Corset-fastener.



Patented Aug. 8, |899.

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CURSET FASTENER.

(Applicltion led Dec 6, 189B) `(No Model.:

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UNIT-nn l STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SARAH R. MILLS, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

CORSET-FASTEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 680,389, dated Aug-ust 8,1899. Application tiled December 6, 1898. Serial No. 698,470. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, SARAH R. MILLS, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in thecounty of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Corset-Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in corset-fasteners, the object of my invention being to provide a device of this character which will avoid injury to the dress Worn over the corset, such as is caused by the fasteners at present in use; and a further object of my invention has been to provide a simple and inexpensive corset-fastener which shall also serve as a means for holding the corset-laces in position when tied.

Corset-fasteners as at present devised and used, so far as my knowledge extends, oonsist of a loop or eye attached to one corsetsteel and a stud projecting from the other corset-steel through the fabric of the corset and engaged by said eyeor loop. The part of the dress immediately belowr the waist is usually Worn tight around the form, and the consequence is that the studs in the lower part of the corset, projecting above its surface and against which the dress presses with considerable force, indent, deform, and abrade each a small portion of the dress immediately above it. The effects of this continual pressure and abrasion are very soon visible from the outside, and the dress is quickly worn out at this place and must be cast aside or repaired. The dress may be repaired by inserting a piece of the goods in the place of the part that has had holes worn throughby the studs; but this remedy is troublesome, expensive, and unsatisfactory, the result being a patchedup garment, and, moreover, itis sometimes impracticable on account of the goods being exhausted in thestore.

The object of my invention has been to avoid this annoyance and expense.

My invention further resides in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of the parts hereinafter fully specified, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a front elevation of the marginal portions of a corset furnished with my improved fastener and shown as fastened thereby.A Fig.

2 is a similar view of rthe lower portion only of the corset-steels, the cloth covering being zremoved and the steels being shown as separated. Fig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal section on the line 3 3 of Fig.` l and Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the lowest fastener in the corset, showing the device for holding the corset-laces in position.

1 and 2 represent the two sides of the corset, provided with the steels 3 4, respectively. The upper portions of the steels 3 4 have secured thereon the eyes 5 and studs 6, respectively, said eyes and studs being of the usual construction. This fastening device is not objectionable in the upper part of the corset, for the reason that the dress is not drawn tight over the juncture of the halves of the corset in its upper portion. Over the lower part of the corset, however, the dress is frequently worn quite tight, and for the purposes hereiubefore explained I provide in said lower portion on one steel 3 a hook 7, made of a piece of sheet metal bent around and behind the edge of the corset-steel and eugaging a square-shaped loop 8 on the other steel 4, said loop being also made of a ilat, piece of metal. Said hook 7 and loop 8 are secured by rivets 9, the loop 8 preferably on the under side of the steel and the hook 7 on the upper side of its steel, as shown; but this arrangement may be varied without seriously diminishing the advantages of the device, for any inequalities of the surface will be sufficiently covered by the fabric of the corset. Thus I provide a device which fastens the two halves of the corset together in such a manner that the fastening is located entirely below the surface of the corset, so

that there are no projecting points to abrade IOO cure a hook at the bottom of the corset for the purpose of holding the laces in position; but these hooks are inferior to the device herein described in the following respects: first, they have had to be attached on one or the other of the corset-steels, so that the laces secured thereunder have not been symmetrically disposed, this unsymmetrical arrange` ment showing in the ridges in the dress, whereas with my device the tongue is precisely in the middle of the corset; secondly, said hooks have projected above the surface of the corset, abrading the dress in the same manner as do the studs in common use in corset-fastenings, and, third1y,'they have l. A corset having in its upper portion hooks on one steel and eyes on the other steel engaging above the surfaces of the steels, and, near the margin of the lower portion a hook on one steel and anveye on the other steel engaging below the surfaces .of the steels, substantially as described.

2. A corset having a hook on one steel, and an engaging loop on the other steel, said loop having formed integrally therewith a down- ?wardly-extending tongue, located between the two steels when the hook and loop are engaged, substantially as described.

In witness whereof l have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SARAI-I R. MILLS.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, CEAS. W. SMYTH. 

